For weeks now I have been dying to make a yummy chicken curry. After scrolling through a million recipes I found this delicious Mango Chicken Curry Sauce. After a few tries and various substitutions, I came up with a great whole30 approved recipe, that is quick, healthy and tastes amazing.

Ingredients:

2 pounds of boneless chicken breasts

1 red bell pepper

1 yellow (or green) pepper

1 1/2 tablespoon olive oil

Lime slices

Chopped cilantro

Quinoa or rice *optional*

Chopped Cashews *optional*

Coconut Mango Curry Sauce

113.5 oz. cancoconut milk

1 cup chopped mango

1 cup mild salsa verde

1/2teaspoonsmoked paprika

1/2teaspoonchili powder

1teaspoonground cumin

1/2teaspoonsalt

3 tablespoons coconut sugar *optional*

Instructions:

Prep

Slice the bell peppers into even strips

Cut chicken breast into medium-sized cubes

Cooking:

In a large skillet, add olive oil and let it heat up. Next, add in the chicken and cover the pan with a lid until the chicken is almost completely cooked. While the chicken finishes cooking, add in sliced bell peppers and let them saute for 4-5 minutes.

Sauce: Add all the ingredients [above] of the Mango Curry sauce into a blender and blend until smooth. According to your liking, try the sauce and add coconut sugar to sweeten. I suggest 2-3 tablespoons.

Add quinoa to boiling water and let it cook until ready to serve.

Pour the finished mango sauce over the chicken and bell peppers and let it simmer. The consistency of the sauce should change into a smooth layer. Mix. If the sauce is not sweet enough, add another tablespoon of coconut sugar and mix thoroughly.

Add a few scoops of cooked quinoa into a bowl and pour the chicken mango curry overtop. Finish it off with chopped cilantro, cut up cashews and slices of lime.

After an entire summer of traveling Europe, trying every kind of food possible and not doing much working out, I came back to school and needed a major cleanse. My mom and sister had done whole30 over the summer and looked freaking amazing. So the day I got back from Hawaii, I started the 30 days. Now that I have finished I thought I would recap on my struggles, give recommendations for college students and just share some of my thoughts on the experience.

What is Whole30?

Well to start, Whole30 is a 30-day restrictive dietary program that aims to eliminate all potential inflammatory foods and beverages. This means no added sugars, alcohol, grains, legumes, dairy products, beans, soy products, as well as ANY processed foods. So say goodbye to pasta, bread, sushi etc. So you must be thinking, WTF can I eat?

– Proteins, veggies, fruits, and healthy fats.

First Week of Whole30 in College

The thing about this diet is you can’t half-ass it. You go all in or it simply won’t work. Lemme tell you… this is really hard when you’re in college and there is alcohol everywhere. The first three or four days were for sure the hardest. Your body is not used to the diet yet so you still have intense cravings for unhealthy snacks. I had to constantly make myself busy and avoid going near the kitchen. After the 4th day, my body honestly stopped craving food. I am SUCH a foodie so I never thought this would be possible. I started eating meals for energy, not because I wanted food. Whole30 calls it, “taming your sugar dragon” and I swear it works.

Meals

Because I no longer live in the dorms, I have access to a kitchen, which let me tell you is a GAME CHANGER. The best part of me starting this diet was that I was forced to learn how to cook. Before this, I only really knew the basics. After this month I expanded my options and became quite the chef. Here are some yummy meal choices that I used over the past month.

By the second and third week, your body is used to eating clean. I no longer craved sweets, I was able to be around food that I couldn’t eat, and it honestly did not phase me. The one struggle I had, as any college kid probably would, was not drinking. Syllabus week was tough, but if you say strict I promise it’s worth it. What I did however notice was by week 3 I was not as excited to spend the night cooking meals. I began running out of groceries and didn’t have as much time to cook. This meant that meal prepping was super key.

Week Four

So close… but still so far. By week four I was used to the diet and I still did not have cravings, but I did start realizing how close I was to having a margarita & chips and guacamole. I had to really stay focused on making it to day 30. My school also had their first football game that weekend, so holding back from drinking was really hard. But I was determined.

Finally after 30 days of no sugar, no carbs, no drinks… I did it. And it feels so good.

The Positives

Now that I am officially done with whole30 I can recap on everything I enjoyed over the past month.

After I hit the two-week mark my skin was glowing. I don’t know if it was because I stopped eating dairy, but my skin was insanely clear.

You stop craving bad food. This might have been the most shocking part for me. In the span of 30 days, you eliminate the need to constantly eat.

You feel energized throughout the day.

You learn how to cook and get creative with food.

You lose a ton of weight.

The Negatives

You quickly learn how to function without certain foods so it can be hard on your body when you start incorporating them back into your diet. (blog coming soon)

You realize how much sugar is in everything you eat, so it never sounds quite as appetizing.

After you start eating normally, your cravings come back.

Eating out

Try having a D1 athlete as your boyfriend who is trying to GAIN weight. This makes it very difficult when I’m trying to eat super clean and he is carb loading. What I found was on this diet it’s kind of hard to eat out. Don’t get me wrong, it’s doable but you WILL be that annoying girl at a restaurant who makes a million requests and substitutes all sides for salad (with no dressing.) The easiest way to get through these 30 days is to simply cook for yourself. You know exactly what is going into each dish, which eliminates hidden ingredients.

Workouts

My weekly routine typically consists of 5 to 6 workouts a week. Yes, I know this is more than most college kids, but after being a D1 athlete it was just a routine that my body was used to.

However, the first week I started whole30 I had just gotten a Brazilian blowout and a new tattoo, which means no sweating for 5 days. So, for the first week, I did not work out once. And guess what…I saw insane results. Usually, after burning 600 calories, I am constantly hungry throughout the day. This made it very easy for me to cut down on food and I noticed my legs got super slim. Within the first two weeks, I shed 6lbs. Once I began Orange Theory again I needed more food throughout the day.

The Scale

I have a very bad habit of relying on the scale to give me results. At the start of this diet, I weighed myself every few days. During whole30 you are supposed to stay away from the scale, but I honestly couldn’t help it. However, throughout the 30 days, I stopped getting the urge to do so. By the end, I felt so amazing and didn’t need a number to reassure me.

Tips

To sum it up, here are a few tips that will help you survive whole30

Keep Lara bars on you at ALL times

Learn to love eggs

Meal prep on Sundays

Pay the extra money for primal kitchen condiments

Constantly look at labels, even if you assume there is no sugar, there usually is!

Choose a month that you are not super busy (& not during football season)